A battery converts stored chemical energy to electrical energy, which may be conveyed as a voltage potential. As a battery ages, the storage capacity and conductance of the battery may decrease (i.e., fade) between a Beginning Of Life (BOL) and an End Of Life (EOL). Therefore, observations of battery parameters such as cycle rate (magnitude of current), cumulative cycling time, and storage capacity may be helpful in determining an overall State Of Health (SOH) of a battery over its service life.
Over the service life of the battery, certain performance characteristics may experience losses, such as capacity fade, power loss, among others. Such performance losses may be caused by degradation mechanisms, which may be initiated and accelerated by aging conditions that are imposed on the battery. Aging conditions may include environmental factors, characteristics of the battery itself, as well as usage conditions for the battery.
The inventor has appreciated a need for systems and methods that provide a modeling capability that more accurately determines, tracks, and diagnoses performance losses due to degradation mechanisms, and predicts arbitrary aging conditions of an object, such as electrochemical cells and batteries formed therefrom.